Women served with distinction in the AAF, replacing men
who could then be reassigned to combat and other vital duties. The Women's
Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was created in May 1942. Top priority for assignment
of WAACs was to serve at Aircraft Warning Service (AWS) stations. In the
spring of 1943, WAACs became the Women's Army Corps (WAC); almost one-half
of their peak strength served with the AAF, with many being assigned to
clerical and administrative duties, while others worked as topographers,
medical specialists, chemists, and even aircraft mechanics.

Some commanders
were relucant to accept women into their units, but by mid-1943 the demand
for them far exceeded the numbers available. Other women served in the
Army Nurse Corps and were assigned to the AAF. Since nursing was a traditional
field of employment for women, they did not have to endure the ridicule
suffered by some who pioneered in occupations which had been exclusively male prior to WW II. By 1944, some
6,000 nurses were on duty at AAF station hospitals while 500 were flight
nurses aiding in the air evacuation of the wounded. Flight nurse duty was
voluntary for their work was strenuous and sometimes took them within range
of enemy fire, but the risk was justified by the reduced death rate and
increased morale among the wounded.

In Sep. 1942, the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), composed
of women flyers with commercial licenses, was activated under Mrs. Nancy
Harkness Love to ferry aircraft. Almost simultaneously, the Women's Flying
Training Detachment was created under the leadership of the famed aviatrix
Jaqueline Cochran to recruit and train women pilots for ferrying duties.
On Aug. 5, 1943, the two organizations merged into a single unit, the WASP,
with Miss Cochran as Director of Women Pilots. Members of the WASPs were
civil service employees.

WASPs were given the same flight instruction as
male aviation cadets except they received no aerial gunnery training and
little in formation flying or acrobatics. Originally, WASPs ferried only
light AAF aircraft from factories to training bases, but eventually
they flew fighters as well as four-engine bombers and transports.

They also flew such
noncombat missions as towing aerial gunnery targets, flying as practice
targets for searchlight crews, and serving as instrument instructors.

By Dec. 1944, the critical
shortage of male pilots had ended and the WASP program was terminated. A
total of 25,000 women had applied for WASP training. 1,830 had been
accepted, and 1,074 had graduated and been assigned to flight duty.

General H.H. Arnold once
stated that it became common for commanding officers to prefer WASPs over
male ferry pilots since the women pilots did not carry 'address books' and
often reached their destination sooner than the male pilots.